I am looking to bicycle commute to Sydney CBD (Town Hall) from the Bankstown area.

Does anyone have any ideas on what may be the best route? I am looking for areas of low traffic if possible.

I used to ride in from Homebush & now I ride in from Revesby. If I was you I'd be getting onto Cooks River Cycle path as soon as possible, as suggested by Find Bruce. Airport Drive, Bourke Rd cycleway, Prince Alfred Park, etc.... I ride the M5 cyclepath & what's left of it is pretty crap, but I haven't much choice from my area.

I'll be commuting from Lane Cove North to the CBD. Any tips on routes?

I'd like the option to try both the safe route and the quick route, I just don't know what these are exactly! I just got my bike on Sunday and had a quick spin up the Epping Rd cycle lane and it spat me out in Naremburn at which point I turned around (as I didn't want to get caught in the dark without lights!)

Also, I've heard some stories about some agro cyclists on this route - Is it true? I'd much rather a pressure-free commute!

V-meister wrote:I'll be commuting from Lane Cove North to the CBD. Any tips on routes?

I'd like the option to try both the safe route and the quick route, I just don't know what these are exactly! I just got my bike on Sunday and had a quick spin up the Epping Rd cycle lane and it spat me out in Naremburn at which point I turned around (as I didn't want to get caught in the dark without lights!)

Also, I've heard some stories about some agro cyclists on this route - Is it true? I'd much rather a pressure-free commute!

Any tips/advice would be much appreciated!

Cheers, V

Welcome outside V. I am assuming you can find your way from the Epping Rd cycle path. I have only ever ridden with the tidal flow & never come across an agro cyclist on the path, but, human nature being what it is, I am sure they exist. Anyone who is riding against the flow will no probably have a different story. There are a few hazards you need to be aware of along the path - basically wherever cars can cross your path, there is always a risk they will do so without looking let alone giving way.

At Naremburn heading into town, cross the Brook St on-ramp up to West St. You then have a few options - Amherst St to the Warringah expressway take the Alfred St exit & cross under the bridge approach at Fitzroy St.

find_bruce wrote:Welcome outside V. I am assuming you can find your way from the Epping Rd cycle path. I have only ever ridden with the tidal flow & never come across an agro cyclist on the path, but, human nature being what it is, I am sure they exist. Anyone who is riding against the flow will no probably have a different story. There are a few hazards you need to be aware of along the path - basically wherever cars can cross your path, there is always a risk they will do so without looking let alone giving way.

At Naremburn heading into town, cross the Brook St on-ramp up to West St. You then have a few options - Amherst St to the Warringah expressway take the Alfred St exit & cross under the bridge approach at Fitzroy St.

that's part of my regular commute to St Leonard's.nothing untoward. have not come across any aggro cyclist. you should be aware that there is a lot of pedestrians around the Longueville/Epping Road intersection. the foot traffic there during weekday peak hour is very different from the weekend. also watch for cars entering Epping Rd from Phoenix and Kimberley St.go slow with caution.

caneye wrote:that's part of my regular commute to St Leonard's.nothing untoward. have not come across any aggro cyclist. you should be aware that there is a lot of pedestrians around the Longueville/Epping Road intersection. the foot traffic there during weekday peak hour is very different from the weekend. also watch for cars entering Epping Rd from Phoenix and Kimberley St.go slow with caution.

Thank you caneye, appreciate the tips. Out of interest, what's considered peak time? I'm interested in how busy things are at certain times. I.e. Is 7am still quiet and 8am full on peak hour?

Ok so I had a crack at this route over the weekend and it must be my poor fitness levels (combined with 50/34 gearing on my bike), but it's unexpectedly hilly!! Good workout, but sometimes I feel like a flatter commute would be enjoyable too.

I'm sure I'll get better with time but the inclines were definitely more gruelling than I'd bargained for haha

V-meister wrote:Ok so I had a crack at this route over the weekend and it must be my poor fitness levels (combined with 50/34 gearing on my bike), but it's unexpectedly hilly!! Good workout, but sometimes I feel like a flatter commute would be enjoyable too.

I'm sure I'll get better with time but the inclines were definitely more gruelling than I'd bargained for haha

One of the reasons I was glad to move out of chatswood is that its was always uphill to get home

V-meister wrote:Thank you caneye, appreciate the tips. Out of interest, what's considered peak time? I'm interested in how busy things are at certain times. I.e. Is 7am still quiet and 8am full on peak hour?

Cheers!

traffic generally build up from 7am onwards, when tradies hit the roads.

from 8am onwards, you'll see a lot more pedestrians, especially school kids.

I'm looking for some different options to commute from St Clair (Western Sydney) to the CBD. The "best" route I found so far is down the Great Western Highway through Parramatta turning left onto James Ruse Dr followed by Victoria Rd over Anzac Bridge into the CBD around 52km. Are there any good routes on the south side of the river. I really want to avoid zigzagging and Parramatta Rd.

I was also looking at taking the M7 bike path followed by the M2 but not sure about the roadworks detour between Windsor Rd & Penanthills Rd. is it easy to ride? Anybody got any "ridewithgps" routes or similar which I can load onto my computer.

I am a new poster to the commuting page/s... yet I have been commuting to work for the past 9 years!

I recently moved from the inner SE 'burbs of Melbourne to the Bayside suburb of Bonbeach - My previous commute to work was along the Princes Hwy from Oakleigh to the South Gippsland Hwy, though to Cranbourne. I rode this route (or various bike and train options) every day...but on reflection there wasn't anything to write home about with my commute. Lots of K's traveled alongside lots of traffic, and trucks, and noise...

My new commute has been something of a revolution, off-road shared paths, wide (marked) sealed shoulders and points of interest along the way. I am really enjoying the new ride so much so that i had to write a ride blog about it... and thought I'd share it here...https://commutetocrannie.wordpress.com/

I'm looking for some different options to commute from St Clair (Western Sydney) to the CBD. The "best" route I found so far is down the Great Western Highway through Parramatta turning left onto James Ruse Dr followed by Victoria Rd over Anzac Bridge into the CBD around 52km. Are there any good routes on the south side of the river. I really want to avoid zigzagging and Parramatta Rd.

(note: this route definitely doesn't avoid zigzagging)

Rather than going up James Ruse Drive, continue through Clyde along Adderley St W, then through Olympic Park to Concord West, back streets to Lyons Rd, then the Bay Run around Dobroyd Pde to Lilyfield Rd, then hit Victoria Rd around Balmain/Rozelle.

The whole concord/five dock area is something you need to explore yourself. Very busy in peak, and depends on your tolerance for traffic, cycle lanes, shared paths, rat runners, etc.

Here's what I used to do Parramatta to Balmain to give you some ideas. Infrastructure may have been upgraded since then.. it was about 10 years back and open cycle maps shows some other 'bicycle' routes, but it was something I optimised over time to avoid the worst of the traffic (eg: I used to use Queens Rd, but that is narrow, very busy, and much of it was concrete slabs).

I'm in Sydney, commute to my lab in Sydney uni in Camperdown from Lakemba.

Use the punchbowl road to Ashfield, and use Summer hill town centre to go to the roundabout, Lewisham, Petersham, turn left on crystal st and go to Westbourne st, Macaulay road following the bike signs, then go to Paramatta Rd to my lab

For the way back, now I just do the opposite, except I use the Milton st to go down, but I used to use the Parramatta road then turned left at Dover st.to Governor cross, then find way to Milton st after going to A22.

Ofcourse, the Punchbowl road is kinda busy with no shoulder and you kinda have to be crazy to attempt cyling there, going with no shoulder with cars who don't seem to know cyclists exist and assume there will be no one brave to enough use the road. But as someone who has came from Bandung, Indonesia, and cycled there, and then comparing cycling to other cities (I did Bandung-Cianjur, Bandung-Garut, Bandung-Majalengka) it's not actually not bad

I mean, There are a group of families who love to do Bandung-Pangandaran in roads full of cars, motorcycles, trucks, often only two lanes. People going Bandung-Garut in weekends with folding bikes in congested roads. and its ok

why in australia it seems we don't look for each other, it's not something hard. it's like the road is n arena to fight, just weeks before, I witnessed a to be road rage, with the driver of those truck pickups with another truck pickup driver because one didn't yield at the intersection, one driver had already gone out of his vehicle for a fight.

And I keep asking myself, are my routes really scary? chatting with someone the other day, he said how Paramatta rd, Punchbowl rd, M5 are going to make me die.

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